Self-esteem building and the community organizing process

Self-esteem building is at the core of the community organizing process. Self-esteem building through community organizing is one of the diverse processes in the work for Peace and Development. Peace in the world cannot happen without social justice. Social justice is the priority of a society that takes seriously the concept of citizenship and the common good. Social justice can only happen when society as a whole recognizes and respects the role of the poor in the continuing flow of life in the human community. The attainment of social justice is a long process.Self-esteem building among the poor and powerless is a process that is at the heart of community organizing.

A community organizer, using issues as entry points to consciousness raising engages communities so that they are able to see that there are two concepts of peace in society. It's a pity that these two concepts are in perpetual conflict - peace at all cost and peace based on justice. While the former seeks to disempower the poor, the latter works to empower the poor. Peace based on justice cannot be viewed separately from self-esteem building. Because peace of the heart is the heart of peace, a wounded self-esteem will always cry for justice. Without a healthy self-esteem, society itself will not be a healthy organism. Power, that force that makes collective self-esteem possible, cannot be isolated from peace, social justice and social transformation. The healthy intertwining of the concepts of peace, social justice and social transformation is an aspect of self-esteem
building and community organizing. People power is the high end of this healthy intertwining of what is mentioned above.

Power is supposed to be a neutral term but when you work for social justice, power of the poor is with a capital P. Power of the oppressed is that force that can make those in power act on the alternatives presented by the poor. Without people power, anything given to the poor that comes from the programs and services of government are perceived even by the poor themselves as favors from the government, not as citizens’ entitlements. This view stems from a mental attitude honed through the years by the poor’s lack of understanding of their rights and roles in society. This is not because the poor are negligent of their rights. To understand this without any judgment on the poor, it is important to look closely at how society is arranged economically, politically and culturally. This arrangement did not happen by accident. We know society has a history. Because the poor are generally viewed as beneficiaries not only by the general public but also by the institutions themselves that are opinion leaders in the development of thought in society, even the poor are led into thinking that indeed they are just beneficiaries of the magnanimity of the benefactors. This is the reason why without people power, the poor is not listened to when they speak their truth. Those in the reigns of power will not be shaken by pleadings. They will only be moved by a political and moral force that will enable them to come to their senses and accept the fact that power is both a burden and a responsibility, not a privilege.

Community Organizing seeks to help the poor help themselves. It doesn't mean that the poor are not helping themselves. What is meant here by helping the poor help themselves is helping the poor empower themselves. For as long as the poor do not realize that they need only to depend on themselves in an organized manner to achieve their vision of society, social transformation will be very slow.

The process of helping people help themselves is never separate from self-esteem building.In the prevailing socio-economic-political and cultural arrangement of most poor societies, there is a blindness to the poor's sense of self-esteem. It is as if society has a mental template that is programmed in a manner that says it's all right to look down on the poor. This school of thought is very dangerous not only to the poor but also to the entire human community. In this light, it is the wish of this site to focus on how each of us could contribute to help the poor help themselves in reclaiming that power which is their birthright but is continuously being stolen from them everyday by a society whose systems do not take the poor seriously.